Released on July 4th 1990, starring Bruce Willis as John McClane and directed by Renny Harlin, Die Hard 2 (often referred to as Die Hard 2: Die Harder) exceeded all expectations with a massive first weekend opening, and went on to be the seventh highest grossing movie of the year taking in excess of $240 million - almost double that of the first Die Hard film.
Here are five fast facts about Die Hard 2 as it celebrates its 30th anniversary...
1. Alpena Airport in Northern Michigan was chosen for the filming of Die Hard 2 because of its propensity for snowfall, but the unseasonably good weather meant a lack of snowfall before and during filming, so artificial snow had to be used throughout.
2. Die Hard 2 outdid it's predecessor in a number of ways, not least of which was in body count. 23 characters were confirmed to have died during the first Die Hard film, whereas in Die Hard 2 that number is 271 (making this film the highest body count of any in the Die Hard series), including 235 in one single plane crash!
3. Steven E. de Souza, one of the writers of the screenplay for Die Hard 2, included a line that General Ramon Esperanza, the ruthless drug lord, came from Val Verde. Val Verde, which translates as Green Valley, was a fictitious Latin-American country that de Souza had created and previously used in the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger film Commando, and the 1988 US television series Supercarrier. He would go on to use the fictitious country name again in the 2003 series Adventure Inc., and his 2015 Devil's Due comic book Sheena.
4. Black & Decker paid to have one of their cordless drills feature in Die Hard 2, during a scene with Bruce Willis. When the scene was cut from the finished edit the company sued 20th Century Fox in the first-ever product placement lawsuit for a film. The $150,000 claim was settled out of court.
5. Die Hard 2 received it's US television premiere on what was then known as TBS Superstation, and later in the UK on ITV. The version of the film that first aired was heavily dubbed by voice actors, and is legendary for sounding nothing like the actors who played their respective roles. Most noteworthy, McClane's famous line "Yipee-ki-yay motherfucker" was dubbed into "Yipee-ki-yay Mr. Falcon" even though there's no character in Die Hard 2 named Mr. Falcon.
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